I remember that you did. I just wanted you to know that your efforts were appreciated. With a printed web page, I can use a web-translator to at least get the main points. However, that doesn't work for audio.
According to this article in L'Express (http://www.lexpress.ch/news/sports/xamax/xamax.htm), Griffiths received his first yellow card for coming back onto the field of play without being waved on. Is this true? If so, that is a ludicrous decision. The article's author and several Xamax players and coaches were very unhappy with the officiating of Rutz, for pretty much the same reasons I noted above.
I enjoy following both Austrian and Swiss football for several reasons: 1) Schedule - The timing of both leagues really works for me. The Alpine countries are the first major leagues to get started in July, and I'm not a big fan of summer, so it gives me something to look forward to when the really hot weather kicks in in the U.S. Also, I tend to get overwhelmed with other stuff during and after the holidays, so the timing of the winter break works for me as well. 2) Web coverage - Both leagues have good news and video coverage on-line. I like being able to see the highlights of matches when I can, and there is good statistical coverage of both leagues (especially for Austria at sport1.at). I know this may sound strange, but I really used to enjoy the occasional Austria 1st Division match that was on TRW on the web (it vanished when Premiere bid all that money before last season to get exclusive coverage of both leagues in Austria). But being able to see extensive video highlights on demand is a big deal for me. 3) Competitiveness - Both leagues are reasonably competitive. Austria has had 4 different champions in the last 4 years. In Switzerland, Basel is very strong currently, but other squads have made changes and Basel's players are being tempted by bigger clubs and leagues in Europe. And even when there is a strong favorite for the league title, the race for the other top positions in the table is always pretty competitive. But I've never been to either country, so in that sense I guess I'm not the typical fan.
19:30 Basel ? - ? Schaffhausen 19:30 Grasshoppers ? - ? Yverdon 19:30 St. Gallen ? - ? Zurich 19:30 Thun ? - ? Aarau
My eldest son (lives near Zurich) was at the Hardturm yesterday. He said GC looked good going forward but still suspect at the back (no change there then!!) Anyway, 3 points is all that matters!! HOPP GC!! (crowd about 5,000)
Standings Schedule To prevent buffering, pause the stream until it is fully loaded (green bar/clip position) Round 1 (Other Matches) Grasshoppers - Yverdon 3:2 (2:1) 3. Salatic 1:0. 13. Gomes 1:1. 18. Pavlovic 2:1. 50. Eduardo 3:1. 56. Aguirre 3:2. Basel - FC Schaffhausen 1:0 (1:0) 36. Ergic 1:0. Thun - Aarau 2:0 (1:0) 41. Gerber 1:0. 54. Deumi (penalty) 2:0. St. Gallen - Zürich 1:3 (0:1) 28. Cesar 0:1. 53. David Marazzi 1:1. 57. Tararache 1:2. 93. Keita 1:3. Closer than expected victories for GC and Basel. But hey, it's three points for GC.
Btw, funny story about Yverdon. For some strange reason they only brought a blue jersey (out of all colors) to the Hardturm. GC had to borrow them an old red away jersey.
Thanks for the highlights Swiss GCZ, where were all the Yverdon fans? Still drinking in the City Centre?
Grasshoppers - Yverdon 3:2 (2:1) Yverdon's first goal was very nice. Good run off the ball by Gomes and good finish. From the highlights it seemed that YS was very vulnerable to long balls out of the midfield of back line. They will need to improve on that. The red jerseys made me think of Bayren Munich on the field not YS. Nice third goal by GCZ.
FCZ winning at St. Gallen is a bit of a surprise, isn't it? St. Gallen was always tough at home and FCZ is, well FCZ :-D great win for GC! now what's up next?
Weekend's attendence: Basel - FCS: 20884 GCZ - YS: 5000 Xamax - YB: 5100 FCSG - FCZ: 9800 Thun - Aarau: 4500 Not too bad for the opening week. Add 16k in Bern for the Intertoto match and that is pretty good.
Yep They were in the upper level of the west stand. The lower level still hasn't been fixed since the Basel arsonist incident (and won't be until GC has complete clarity regarding its stadium situation for the season.) Yeah...I guess you could say that. Although the Espenmoos is not the fortress it used to be. PS: Was that terrible Colomba blunder or what?
5000 at the Hardturm, in the middle of summer for Yverdon is pretty good too. As sad as that may sound...
Round 2 Yverdon - Young Boys 0:3 (0:3) 8. Yakin 0:1. 16. Magnin 0:2. 28. Schneuwly 0:3. Yet another impressive performance from Hakan, even if he only played 30 minutes (slight injury - rested for OM match.)
Yverdon - Young Boys 0:3 (0:3) Very poor marking on the first goal by Yverdon. I hope that Yverdon can settle down and beat out Aarau and FCS to avoid relegation. Good unselfish play on the third goal. Yverdon was a little unlucky with the two near goals off the post.
Week 2 matches: July 22 19:30 Thun ? - ? Basel July 23 19:30 Aarau ? - ? St. Gallen 19:30 Schaffhausen ? - ? Neuchatel Xamax July 24 16:00 Zurich ? - ? Grasshoppers The Thun - Basel match should be huge. It will say a lot about both teams. FCZ-GCZ will be its normal important self. I think that the Xamax - FCS game is important for both teams. Xamax does not want to start the season 0-2, while a win would be huge for FCS.
Jeepers - did I read this right - 3-0 Thun!!! Hope so... HOPP GC for tomorrow, time to end the peasants' brief Letzigrund winning streak!
Looks like I'm going to have to change my username as there's more than one of us now! Maybe we can start a UK fan club for the Hoppers! And get this, my dad's side of the family are from the Exeter area too....
Round 2 (Continued) Thun - Basel 3:0 (0:0) 61. Lustrinelli 1:0. 69. Lustrinelli 2:0. 80. Leandro Vieira 3:0. x infinity I love it. Tiny Thun keeps stomping FCB at home game after game.